Was my comic convention a failure?
Reflecting on the challenges of running an online event when you have limited time.
Modern culture is reactionary.
Social media is full of hot-takes, and it often seems as though people feel pressure to immediately be involved in “the discourse,” whatever it may be.
Seldom does this seem to work out for anyone.
My personal preference is not to immediately react to everything. It’s not easy. I often find myself reacting, and then have to remind myself to take a beat, close my eyes, and let it go. I’m usually very busy, so once I decide to take a break from reacting, it’s invariably a long one.
Sometimes I let days pass, and if my gut reaction is still the same, then I can start to trust it, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let the world know.
More often than not, I find myself contemplating and analyzing my thoughts a little more deeply and realize my reaction was half-baked at best.
Giving oneself time and space to think and ponder, is critical for considered reflection.
With that in mind, I’ve had a few weeks to ponder the response to the launch of the Virtual Creator Con, and wanted to follow up my reaction post, with a more considered (or hopefully more considered) one now that the dust has settled.
I want to focus on the overall success of the event, and then focus on three specific areas that I need to work on prior to the next con. There are – of course – lots of other things I could focus on, but I also don’t want this to become a tome!
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Was it a success or a failure?
Yes and no. As I’ve discussed before, a key driver for starting an online convention was that i) in-person cons are increasingly unaffordable for both creators and consumers, but also that ii) promoting an online store is a full-time job for creators, who are unable – or unwilling – to be able to effectively promote themselves in a low signal-to-noise environment.
The con did bring people to the platform and some of them did make purchases from the creators. So, that’s a big win.
However, the data shows there were only 25–30 attendees, which is disappointing, as I had high hopes of attracting far more traffic.
Now, I know I’m being overly critical. It was the first ever event, and I didn’t do enough to promote it through my networks, so even having 25–30 people show up is not bad, but I need to understand more about what worked and what didn’t if the show is able to scale.
Branding
Branding is critical for any event, and I knew I didn’t have the strongest visual brand image for the first show – but it was the best I could do in a tight-timeline. Thankfully, I was able to chat with fellow creator Eric Grissom after the event, and he designed a new logo for the show (see below), and provided some tips on how to restructure the site to make it more visually appealing, while simplifying the UX. It’s still a work in progress, but I think we’re getting there.
Structure
The premise of the con was that it would function like an in-person event, so all the recorded material would vanish at the end of the show, encouraging people to visit the site while the con was ‘live.’ Essentially, this is a way to create scarcity, which is a key driver for consumer decision-making.
Sadly, I think the limited hours were a barrier for the first show, which ran from 9am-5pm pacific. For those on the East Coast, this was noon-8pm on a Sunday, which may not be ideal. Indeed, the data shows almost all the attendees were from the West Coast, so there is immediately a case to be made for extending the hours to make it more accessible.
With that in mind, I intend to make the next convention a two-day show, which should ensure more folks can attend from other time-zones. I don’t want the show to become a 3-4 day event, as that weakens the value proposition for participating creators, but I think a 2-day show could be a better test of the model.
Adding a second day means the structure of the event can also be modified, so rather than releasing all the pre-recorded panels at the same time, they can be staggered over the two days, with all material being removed at the end of the event. It also allows more time to introduce live-streamed panels/interviews with creators able to respond to questions from attendees. This can be beneficial for real-time engagement.
So, for the fall, the con will run from 9am on September 7 to 5pm on September 8! You heard it here first.
Promotion
I need to do some. LOL.
In all seriousness, I need to create and implement a plan, rather than relying on ad-hoc messages through social media. Given that this is a new con, without big name creators or sponsors, there needs to be a promotion plan – which is what I’m currently working on.
The first time is always the hardest. It gets easier from this point on, as I already have some panels and can hopefully build upon this first event to have more creators, and more programming. As I said, planning for the next one is already underway, so stay tuned for more info.
If you’re a comic creator and would be interested in participating in a future event, in any capacity that works for you, please get in touch!
What do you think? What are your favourite con elements that could be recreated in a virtual event? Who would you like to see on a panel?
I mentioned this in a previous post, prior to the con happening, but thought it worth repeating here as I haven't read you mention this again. I was definitely curious about the Con, and saw you write it up prior to the event taking place. But when I went to the Con site there was no way to sign up, add it to my calendar, etc. No way to be reminded that it was happening after that brief flickering moment of paying attention to it that one day.
The next thing I knew, I was reading your post on the fact that it had already happened and you were reflecting. My man, if you capture someone's attention in his online environment, for a briefest of moments, you *absolutely must* have a way for them to take action right there and then and never again, and by doing so they'll get *multiple* reminders leading up to the event. There's too much going on IRL let alone online for anyone to keep track of other people's events. You can call it an "email list" or whatever you like, but it's critical. And ideally it's multiple reminders + ability to add to a Google calendar. God knows I remember nothing if it isn't on a calendar anymore.